Questions
by Destiny Lockheart
Summary: FF:TSW, A conversation between Jane and Neil after the wasteland and before getting arrested w/ Jane/Neil undertones.


Questions

_by Destiny Lockheart_

Quite annoyed, Jane looked over towards Neil. Instead of being in his room where he belonged, he was making himself comfortable on her bed. What had brought him to her room at this time of night was beyond her reasoning. Maybe Neil had already paid a visit to Ryan and the sergeant had kicked him out. It was possible. After all, the captain and that woman had been in Dr. Sid's lab for hours already. It wasn't that she was going to mind his company, in fact, she preferred it to half the males' at the base, but it was late and she was tired. It had been a long day and she had a feeling tomorrow was going to be worse. 

"Okay, what are you doing here, Neil?" she asked him after he had made himself completely comfortable. Actually, she had asked that same question whenever he walked through the door but he hadn't answered her. 

"The Serge kicked me out," - Jane smiled; so she was right about that - "and I really don't feel like being by myself right now."

Jane could understand that. Something just wasn't right. She sat down on the edge of the bed as he placed his hands behind his head. "So I suppose you're going to chat my head off now, right?"

"That was the plan," he told her with a grin. "I don't think the sergeant listened to a word I said." Jane sighed. That was easy to comprehend; Neil could talk for hours at a time without showing any signs of stopping. And he never seemed to get bored with what he was talking about. "I wonder how serious the captain is about that woman." Jane briefly wondered where Neil could be heading with this. Could he possibly have a thing for Doctor Ross? It wasn't likely; she wasn't exactly his type. "If the captain leaves the force for her, what do you think will happen to us?"

Jane looked at him puzzled. Did he just say what she thought he said? Maybe all those beatings weren't getting through his thick skull. "What do you mean by us?" she asked.

"You know, us," he said, indicating the two of them, "and Ryan. What will happen to the Deep Eyes?"

There was something she hadn't thought about before. For one, the captain probably wouldn't leave until after the war was over, and who knew if any of them would still be alive at that point. Then again, with the way General Hein acted, Captain Gray could easily leave any day now. "I guess we'd be assigned to different squads." The prospect wasn't too appealing. Why? She couldn't tell.

"Huh." Neil appeared to be deep in thought for a few minutes. "I'm happy with the squad I'm in now," he admitted. 

There was an awkward silence between them as Jane let the weight of his words sink in. He didn't have to say why he was happy with this squad; she already knew. Still, it would be nice to hear him actually say it for once instead of just flirting. Then again, she covered it up with sarcastic remarks to him so they were pretty much even. "I'm happy with this squad, too." He could interpret that however he wanted to. It really didn't matter that much. 

He closed his eyes for a moment and Jane returned to looking around the room. Though there really wasn't much to look at; General Hein wasn't very fond of his soldiers decorating their rooms. Besides, nobody got enough money. "What do you think General Hein will do when he finds out about the wasteland?"

Jane shrugged. "My guess is he'll arrest us all."

"Even me!?" Neil asked, surprised. Jane looked at him and nodded. "But I was the pilot! It's not like I could have done anything if I wanted to!"

Jane laughed. "What's your problem? You afraid you'll get stuck in a jail cell with me?" 

"No," Neil told her, "but I have a record. If I get put in jail again, they'll kick me out of the army."

This was getting interesting. "You were arrested before?" She started laughing when he nodded. "For what and when?"

Neil propped himself up on one elbow. "Back when we were in HMA. Let's leave out the 'for what' part," he added nervously. 

"Tell me you got caught sneaking into the girls' dorm." Neil made a point of looking anywhere but at her. "What were you doing there?" 

He scratched the back of his head. "Can we not talk about that right now? You haven't hit me yet today and I'd like to keep it that way." She gave him a look but didn't press the issue further. He laid back down. "It's not fair." 

"You know what's not fair," she told him. "I'm sitting here listening to you talk when I could be getting my well-earned beauty sleep." She laid down on her back next to him. 

"Babe, with as beautiful as you are, you don't need any beauty sleep," he told her with a grin. 

She glared over at his smiling face and for once almost didn't come up with a smart comment for reply. Almost. "It's kind of hard to accept compliments like that when you're taking up three-fourths of my bed," she pointed out with extreme stress on the word my. He moved over but still didn't show any signs of leaving anytime soon. "Thanks, but you didn't take the hint."

"If I would have taken all your hints we wouldn't be here right now having this lovely conversation." She glanced over at him. "What?" he asked, noting her expression. "Aren't you you having fun?"

She rolled her eyes and turned the other way. "Good night, Neil. Don't wake me up when you leave." She closed her eyes and tried to forget he was there. His close-proximity was unnerving at times. She could hear him shifting his position. '_Good, he's finally taking a hint and leaving.'_

"Jane, let me ask you something."

She decided it would be best to humor him. Once he got the answer maybe he'd leave and go back to his room like a good boy. "What?"

There was a few seconds hesitation and she hoped that he had decided against whatever he was going to say. No such luck. "How would you define our relationship?"

That wasn't a question she had been expecting to hear from him. She opened her eyes in surprise and turned to face him. "What? Neil, we don't have a relationship and if fate is on my side we never will."

He pouted. "You know, you may regret saying that someday." Jane rolled her eyes and turned back around. "And that's not true. Webster defines a relationship as-"

"I don't care, Neil. Why would you even ask a question like that?"

"Well, for one, during the day you act like you hate me but now you're sleeping beside me."

She wanted to hit him. She probably should have but Neil would complain about it tomorrow to the captain. "That's because you won't leave." 

"Well, you haven't really tried to get me out of here," he said pointedly. "It's not like you're tried to throw me out of here."

She shook her head. "That would require touching you."

"You mean like this?" He grabbed her arm. She looked at his hand, then turned around and punched him in the stomach. He let go of her, which was of course the desired effect. "Well, now I can't leave," he gasped. "I'm in too much pain to move." 

"You really want me to drag you out of here?" she asked, looking at the door and wondering how long it would take her to get him there. 

"No, I want an answer to my question." 

She sighed and closed her eyes. She didn't want to answer him. The truth was, she loved him, but she couldn't tell him that after the way she had treated him over the years. "I'll tell you tomorrow," she told him quietly, not quite sure if he'd be able to hear her. 

"Okay," he said getting back into his earlier position. "Then I'll just stay here so you can tell me first thing in the morning." Jane smiled and slid closer to him as she drifted off to sleep. She had ever intention of telling him the answer to his question eventually. 

A/N and Disclaimer: Yeah... Still don't own any of the above characters. They all belong to Square and Square isn't willing to give them to me as a charity gift. So I don't have any rights to them. I know it's not a very good title but I decided I wasn't spending more than an hour on this fic and that was including coming up with a title. 


End file.
